ARIANE V
Can you tell us about your background- how did you first get into electronic music?
I grew up listening to electronic music - my older siblings listened to dnb and my mum would always play loud trance sets to her workouts. When I was about 18 I discovered clubbing and the sort of music that I now play. I signed up for dj lessons when I went to uni because I needed a new hobby to get into and I was always curious how djing worked, and it naturally progressed from there.
Has living in London influenced you in terms of music?
Enormously. I am the dj that I am because of this city. I moved to London just after I started learning how to dj, and also only started going out properly after I moved here. I never really went clubbing properly before. I didn’t know much about music at all before. I also started working at Phonica pretty much immediately after I moved here, which threw me into the deep end and exposed me to so much different music. It also allowed me to meet loads of people who I learned plenty from. Although I’m originally from Prague, I’m definitely a London DJ through and through.
Tell us your process for planning this mix.
I think my process is the same for pretty much any mix. I always have a vibe that I’d like to go for - this time I wanted to play a bit heavier and less soulful than I played in my recent mixes - and then I check all of the most recent music that I bought or received to see which tracks loosely fit that vibe and have a common thread. I use those as a base for the mix. I then dig for more music and also go through the older tracks in my collection to fill in the gaps.
Where do you go to discover new tracks?
Recently, instagram has been incredible! There are plenty of amazing accounts that post old gems. They’re great ways of finding producers and labels that I haven’t heard of, and then I love trailing through their back catalogue to find more great stuff. Other than that, record shops are always my go to (both physical and online), and I also love going down a good youtube/soundcloud rabbit hole.
Which lineups are you most looking forward to in 2023?
I’m playing at Secretsundaze’ Festival of Dance at the Cause on the 6th of May, which has an absolutely incredible lineup with plenty of DJs who I love and admire. Beautiful Swimmers, Tama Sumo & Lakuti, Wolf Music, CCL… And then another one I’m insanely excited about is playing at the 20 Years of Phonica stage takeover at We Out Here later on in the summer. I’ll be warming up for System Olympia, Soichi Terada, and Eris Drew!